Kali
| def_retorts = Artificer }} Kali is one of the 14 Wizards featured in Master of Magic. By default, she has and Spellbooks at her disposal, as well as the Artificer Retort. The witch Kali stands at the fulcrum between Wizards with academic and material goals in the quest to become Master of Magic. She possesses theoretical knowledge of binding souls and reagents into talismans of great power. Presently, Kali can only glimpse the difficulty of this art, not overcome it. True Artifacts could be manifestations of tension between the magical Realms themselves; certainly no mortal in memory wields the immense power such creations would require. That, at least, could be rearranged... Playing as Kali Kali's portrait may be selected for a custom Wizard when starting a new game at any Difficulty setting above "Intro" in the official game, or respectively "Easy" in the unoficial patches. Selecting either her default profile or her portrait prevents her from being encountered as an opposing Wizard. Played on her default spec, Kali is uniquely tailored among the pre-generated Wizards to leveraging the power of Heroes. Players with experience using Artificer and Runemaster together may be vexed by Kali's build, but if she doesn't get greedy with stats, her / ranks offer more formidable powers to her artifacts, including , , , , and . Kali could direct early exploration and conquest efforts towards meeting the and requirements of a higher-tier Hero, and building up the and Spell Casting Skill needed to enchant items effectively. Which is to say, these goals can supersede rushing buildings, armies, and Spell Research at her discretion. Kali as an Opponent If not chosen, Kali may appear randomly among the computer-controlled opponent Wizards. Their finalized Spellbook and Retort picks strongly influence these Wizards' die rolls for AI Personality and Objective. At the "Normal" Difficulty setting and above, there is a 20% chance of either her or aspects rolling up into a single color. Taking this into account, Kali's typical traits are predicted below. Higher Difficulties subject a Wizard's default profile to increasingly arbitrary adjustments, including exposure to random Realms and skills. At the "Impossible" setting, be prepared for anything. Starting Spells At the start of the game, a non-customized Kali knows all spells specified in the table below. The known spells of a randomly generated opposing Kali depend entirely on the type and quantity of Spellbooks. For more information see the Wizard article. How many spells are researchable throughout the game depends on this as well. Trivia Concept art created by George Edward Purdy for the playable Wizards show drawings of a sorceress that is named "Karla, the Black Witch" to which Kali's appearance heavily draws from. To further add to things, a sorceress named "Karla, the Grey Witch" is an antagonist in the manga Record of Lodoss War and its subsequent OVA which was released in 1988. Kali is almost identical to Karla, right down to her circlet in the anime. Karla is also referred to in the initial sketches to be "more Lodoss" through the character's refinement, further comparing the two. It's worth to note that Tauron also bears a very strong identical likeness to Wagnard, the main antagonist chaotic wizard from Record of Lodoss War. In Record of Lodoss War, Karla's circlet *is* in fact Karla, who instilled her conciousness within it long ago and has survived through countless magical wars that have left her emotionally dead with an "ends justify the means" personality. Karla survives through the eons by magical possession of unwilling hosts, the means of who she controls is linked to those she forcibly crowns herself upon. In reflection back to Master of Magic's incarnation of Kali, this could be a reference to Kali's mastery of artifacts through the Artificer retort given Karla *is* an artifact. Kali is also the name of the Hindu goddess of death and destruction, to which through her namesake she aptly shares spellbooks with . Category:Wizards